


Kiss it Better

by minhyukkus (showhyuk)



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, as slow burn as it cfan get in 3k lmao, implied smut pls, let them be soft and sensitive too, slow burn but like, we love our buff boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 13:29:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15195785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/showhyuk/pseuds/minhyukkus
Summary: The first time Hyunwoo kisses Hoseok is when they were five.Hoseok is over for a playdate and runs head first into the glass door leading out into the patio. And then there is a lot of screaming and crying. Hyunwoo hasn’t even left his blocks as his mother rocks Hoseok in her arms in a plea to get the cries to stop.“Hyunwoo can kiss it better, okay? Yeah, Hyunwoo? Come over here,” she coos. “Kiss his forehead to make it all go away!”





	Kiss it Better

The first time Hyunwoo kisses Hoseok is when they were five.

Hoseok is over for a playdate and runs head first into the glass door leading out into the patio. And then there is a lot of screaming and crying. Hyunwoo hasn’t even left his blocks as his mother rocks Hoseok in her arms in a plea to get the cries to stop.

“Hyunwoo can kiss it better, okay? Yeah, Hyunwoo? Come over here,” she coos. “Kiss his forehead to make it all go away!”

And Hyunwoo, the ever obedient son waddles over to press his lips to the bump.

Hyunwoo’s mother claps, bouncing Hoseok in her arms. “All better, right? Kisses are like magic!”

Hoseok just stares at Hyunwoo, eyes wide and still glassy.

/

Hyunwoo makes friends easily. He pulls them in without saying much at all. When they’re eleven and in middle school, Hoseok is overcome with jealousy. He decides to make his own friends except Hoseok is still too awkward and too sweet and too easy to take advantage of. He falls off the bleachers trying to to impress older classmates. Hyunwoo signs his cast first.

“What were you thinking, Hoseok?”

The other boy pouts, refusing to look Hyunwoo in the eyes. And then he feels a light kiss on the skin above his cast.

“Magic kiss,”  Hyunwoo jokes at Hoseok’s gaping mouth.

/

When they go to high school, Hyunwoo is the same. Except he dates a few girls. It’s okay because so Hoseok does too.

Hyunwoo's girlfriend seems nice enough even when she catches Hoseok making out with the upperclassman under the stairs.

“Hyunwoo’s not so adventurous,” she laughs before leaving them. 

Hoseok has filled out more. He has a new haircut and he hangs out with a different crowd. The kind that parties late at night, the kind that sneaks off campus to smoke. He drinks a little too. It’s okay as long as his mother doesn’t find out. Hyunwoo doesn’t. Hoseok knows this even though they only see each other during dance practice. And Hyunwoo dances so well, Hoseok finds himself envious of the praise.

Hoseok just wants to be accepted mostly. And this new group, they accept him. A little. He doesn’t talk to them much about his dreams.

They’re sixteen. They’re dumb, they want to please everyone. Hoseok tries a new move in dance class and sprains his ankle. Hyunwoo is next to him quickly, talking in that same soothing voice. When everyone else leaves, Hyunwoo stays back, a frown permanent on his face.

“Why would you try that, Hoseokie?” the term of endearment flounders off his tongue, unused in their friendship.

Hoseok’s breath catches in his chest, but he doesn’t let it linger. “I have to be better.”

Hyunwoo wraps an arm around his waist, supporting him so easily, Hoseok nearly crumbles right there.

“Okay.” Hyunwoo just accepts his determination and passion.

He walks him home even though he has a date later that night. His phone buzzes in his pocket a few times. Hoseok can feel it as Hyunwoo carries him up the stairs despite Hoseok’s cries of “you don’t have to do this. Oh my god, Hyunwoo.”

Hyunwoo ignores him. Like he usually does. And Hoseok pouts. Like he usually does.

“Magic kiss?” He asks when the air is tight and Hyunwoo is still staring down at him.

Hyunwoo doesn’t even make a face when he kneels down to place a soft peck to the inside of Hoseok’s ankle.

/

Nothing changes, but everything changes. They don’t hang out with different people anymore, they have lunch together again. Hoseok doesn’t quit drinking, but he stops smoking. Hyunwoo tells him it’s a bad to drink so much, but it makes the pain feel less. Hoseok isn’t even sure what the pain is about.

They don't date anyone else.

Hyunwoo never calls him Hoseok anymore. Just Hoseokie.

Hyunwoo applies to a lot of dance academies far away. Hoseok doesn’t. His mother is sick and Hoseok can’t leave her. He applies to the best colleges nearby. He gets into the one he can walk to. Hyunwoo shows up that night with soju (a surprise) and fried chicken. He wears a satisfied smile.

“I’m going to Seoul.”

 _Oh_.

They’re seventeen, it’s their last year before graduation and it’s now or never.

Hoseok decides never.

He goes to the club later with his old friends and he drinks too much. Hoseok’s heart has managed to be silent for seventeen years and he ruins it all with one too many bottles and his phone with Hyunwoo saved as an emergency contact.

When Hyunwoo saunters through the club, he sticks out, broad and tall, but with a face that shouldn’t be there. Hoseok almost feels bad from taking away his club virginity at a dingy place like this.

Hyunwoo’s lips are close to his ear. “I told you drinking this much was bad, Hoseokie,” he says, lifting him easily through the crowd and out the door. The nickname comes out easier now with wear. Hoseok doesn’t say anything and Hyunwoo carries him through the streets and to his house. Not Hoseok’s. It would be too much for his mother. Instead Hyunwoo slips into his own quiet home and lays Hoseok down on his bed.

Hoseok throws up once, cleanly into the rubbish bin near Hyunwoo’s bed. And then he feels pouty lips pressed to his forehead.

“Magic kiss.”

Hoseok smiles lightly at that and he thinks that’s all, that his mouth will stay silent. Except his heart is pounding.

“I’m gay,” he says, barely audible. Hyunwoo blinks. “Or bi. I don’t kno--”

“Okay.” And Hyunwoo slides in next to him, body warm and inviting. Hoseok tries not to cry.

/

They go to different colleges. Hoseok doesn’t drink anymore or smoke anymore. They promise to talk all the time. Weekly check ins and all. It works for awhile.

College has a way of taking away promises though and before Hoseok knows it, he’s graduated and hasn’t spoken to his best friend in those four years.

Neither are sure who stopped first.

/

Hyunwoo is twenty two when he comes back to visit his hometown. He has a break in his  schedule and needs the time off. He eats dinner with his parents, small formalities.

“You look so handsome dancing with Hyori,” his mother giggles, her cheeks flushed.

His father shakes his head with a grunt. “Does she need to be that close to you every time?”

Hyunwoo laughs.

It happens when he helps his mother clean off the table and dry the dishes. She hasn’t spoken much before that.

“Have you talked with Hoseok recently?” Hyunwoo feels something in the air, like his mother is prying. He answers with a small negative. His mother raises a brow, but doesn’t say much else. “Well, why don’t you say hi? I’m sure he’d love to see you again.”

 

Hyunwoo dodges more questions and stops by the corner store for a six pack to down in his room alone. He’s already at the register when he hears the laugh. Hyunwoo knows it anywhere, of course. Even if he does hear it for the first time five years later. His eyes flick to the small mop of brown hair next to Hoseok and his heart clenches.

Hyunwoo takes his beer and leaves before Hoseok can spot him.

 

The next night, Hyunwoo makes up an excuse and eats dinner at a bar alone. His mother doesn’t question it. Hyunwoo just can’t stand to hear more about Hoseok. He downs another glass of beer, slow chugging away some of those emotions. He leans back on the bar stool with a sigh and looks around the small bar. The room is dark with minimal lighting and unfamiliar faces. Hyunwoo prefers that.

He thinks back to the girl at the corner store. Suddenly his imagination is too much and Hyunwoo can picture them laughing together, kissing together, and---

A new emotion surges through his body, burning and painful. It leaves him nearly gasping for air. He shakes his head. He doesn’t own Hoseok. No matter how often their paths intertwined, no matter how often Hoseok came back, it’s not fate. It’s not destiny.

He orders another glass when someone sits next to him.

“Hyunwoo...”

 _Fuck_.

Hyunwoo looks over at the boy that used to be so familiar. There are parts that still are. His eyes, for one. The curve of his lips. The little curl at the ends of his mouth. Hyunwoo realizes too late that he’s spent too much time staring at Hoseok’s mouth.

“Hoseokie,” he murmurs.

Hoseok grins sheepishly. “It’s been awhile, huh?” His words are slurred together, hard to make out. Hyunwoo chuckles. Of course Hoseok is more drunk than him.

“You’re drunk.”

Hoseok waves his hand back and forth. “Please. Me? Drunk? Never.”

Hyunwoo arches a brow, the glimmer of a smile faint on his face.

“I just needed some liquid courage.”

“What?”

Hoseok laughs. “So you’re a hotshot dancer now, huh?” He looks around the bar, not looking Hyunwoo in the eye. Hoseok thinks the bar is warm with the light lighting, faces he’s seen often in town.

Hyunwoo snorts. “Not a hotshot.” He clears his throat, staring down at his beer. “So, there’s a girl, huh?” He clenches his fists on top of the table, ears hot. He shouldn't have asked.

Hoseok doesn’t say anything at first. “Maybe." He sighs. "No." He sighs again, before sipping some beer. "She just reminds me of you...”

Hyunwoo looks back at Hoseok, face flushed. He’s not sure if he heard right or if it’s the alcohol. Hoseok looks everywhere, but Hyunwoo.

“I should go,” Hyunwoo says, downing his sixth drink of the night. He pays for his drinks, and Hoseok’s as an afterthought, and leaves.

 

Hyunwoo doesn’t leave his house for the next three days. He eats dinner alone in his room, not wanting to listen to the questions from his parents. He knows his mother wants to ask more about Hoseok.

He doesn’t even register the wetness on his cheeks until he tastes the salt on his lips.

“ _Fuck_.”

 

Hoseok’s harbored these feelings for years. He imagined that feelings would dissipate after so long. He’d hoped they’d be dust by now. Except when he sees Hyunwoo, he realizes that his emotions are just bubbling over, boiling against his throat, red and hot.

He finds himself in the bar again that Thursday, tired and exhausted.

“Hoseokie,” he hears next to him. Hyunwoo settles beside him in the booth. Not across, but right next to him and Hoseok can feel, _god_ , he can feel everything. From the warmth seeping in, to the indents of his muscles, to the rapid pulse. He needs another drink.

Hoseok already has a light rosy flush from the beer. “Hi Hyunwoo.” He looks over the other man, eyes trailing over his broad frame. Hoseok shivers. There are so many thoughts going through his mind of Hyunwoo and his arms, his back. Hoseok sighs, pouring more beer from the pitcher.

It’s his second pitcher already.

It unravels before them both and Hoseok opens his mouth, but he’s interrupted.

“I loved you,” Hyunwoo says.

Hoseok blinks. He didn’t hear that right. “What.” Definitely didn’t hear that right. Hyunwoo must mean something else.

“I loved you. I loved you before.” Hyunwoo sets his glass down, twirling it in his hands. All Hoseok can think of is how small the beer glass looks in Hyunwoo’s grasp.

Hoseok inhales shakily. He doesn’t know what to say. “And now?” He asks quietly, too afraid to look at up. “And what do you feel now?” He raises his eyes slowly.

Hyunwoo looks him dead in the eye. “What do you feel now?” He raises the beer glass to his lips, finishing the last bit.

Hoseok laughs mirthlessly. “Nothing.”

“You’re a bad liar,” Hyunwoo says, voice low and prying, even closer than he was before.

Hoseok’s brows come together, face scrunching up into a scowl. “What do you want me to say? That I still love you? You want me to say that I still fucking love you?”

Hyunwoo leans forward, grabbing Hoseok’s face in his hands. And Hyunwoo kisses him. Right there in the bar for their whole town to see.

Hoseok doesn’t care though because all he can think about is how good Hyunwoo tastes. Hyunwoo is gentle and coaxing until Hoseok responds, his hands moving from cupping the other’s cheeks to resting right at Hoseok’s waist. The younger can feel his head spin and his heart pump heavily in his chest as he kisses his best friend back. And Hoseok's face is warm, his body is light as Hyunwoo slides his tongue past his pliant lips, dipping into everything he wants.

They come apart, gasping for breath. Hoseok leans back in his seat, looking into Hyunwoo’s eyes, as if he expects some sort of regret. Except Hyunwoo hasn’t even opened his eyes yet. Hoseok can still hear the sound of his pulse ringing in his ears.

Hyunwoo opens his eyes, lips unsatisfied.

 

They’re twenty two when they start dating. Twenty two when pecks turn into kisses, turn into teeth clashing, turn into dirty grinding over clothes. And then there’s the night Hyunwoo finally goes down on Hoseok in his old childhood home.

“I wish I brought you here more often,” Hyunwoo says, pulling down Hoseok’s shorts and boxers. He plants a kiss right at the hip bone.

“For this?” Hoseok breathes when Hyunwoo’s lips ghost over him, hands firm.

Hyunwoo chuckles. “Just in general. We didn’t talk much in high school.” He licks up Hoseok’s cock, coating it in saliva as he pumps him slowly. He looks up at Hoseok, whose eyes are still closed, and presses a kiss to the tip of his cock. Hoseok’s eyes open.

“Magic kiss...” Hoseok breathes as Hyunwoo takes him the whole way.

/

They’re twenty four when they move in together. Hoseok has his mom move to the city too.

Hoseok wakes Hyunwoo up at 4:30am with a kiss to the curve of his neck.

“We can go later,” Hyunwoo moans, but he lets the other haul him up.

Hoseok laughs, throaty and deep from the morning. “But then we won’t get the machines we like.”

They go to the gym in their building every morning. Hyunwoo likes going at 6, but Hoseok likes going earlier.

“To get better.”

Hyunwoo pauses for a moment as they’re about to step out. “You know you’re already the best, right?”

And Hoseok blushes, heat flying up from his neck to his cheeks because Sohn Hyunwoo thinks that. “Stop trying to be romantic!”

Hyunwoo grins, eye crinkles a plenty. “I don’t try, I am.”

“You bought me condoms for our one year anniversary," Hoseok accuses.

“We needed them that night!” says Hyunwoo defensively, slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. It has both their things in it. “I tried to take you for a walk in the park and you said it was gay.”

Hoseok snorts, slipping into his shoes as Hyunwoo does the same. “It is gay.”

“I hate to break it to you,” Hyunwoo says as they step out of the apartment, “But we are gay.”

Hoseok presses Hyunwoo to their door before his lips follow. “Just shut _up._ ”

 

Hoseok is in his lap, nuzzled as deep as he can as they watch a sitcom and Hyunwoo’s fingers are drawing images against his bare thigh. He turns a little so he’s looking at Hyunwoo better.

“Kiss me.” Hoseok demands it and Hyunwoo complies, the backtrack laughter still running through their apartment.

Hoseok turns so they’re facing each other and his legs are on either side of Hyunwoo’s. Their teeth clash when Hoseok rolls his hips and their cocks rub against each other. They’re slow, taking their time with open mouthed kisses and wandering hands.

Hoseok is sure he’ll never grow tired of it.

“I love you,” Hyunwoo murmurs, softly and quietly.

Hoseok’s kisses soften, his hands rise to cup Hyunwoo’s cheeks delicately. Hyunwoo’s hand slides from Hoseok’s hips, down his thighs, warm.

Hoseok pulls away, looking at Hyunwoo. His mind doesn't wander to adult things, like rent, payments, bills. He thinks back on all of them. And he’s satisfied. “You’re beautiful, Hyunwoo.”

“Yeah?” The other man asks, cradling Hoseok’s neck for another kiss. Hyunwoo’s lips move lower to that spot that Hoseok loves so much. One bite, and then another and Hoseok’s hands are threaded in Hyunwoo’s hair, pulling a little. Hoseok’s head dips closer to Hyunwoo’s ear.

“I love you too.”

Hyunwoo fucks him so hard that night, Hoseok feels it the next day. He whines for a bit before Hyunwoo kisses his rear.

“Magic kiss,” he says with a grin even though Hoseok groans.

/

They argue about frivolous things.

“The curtains should be blue, Hyunwoo." Hoseok says this like it's common sense.

“I think the yellow would look nice...”

Hoseok raises his hands in the air. “Why would we want piss curtains?”

Hyunwoo laughs. “Warm yellow, babe. Not piss yellow.”

Hoseok opens his mouth to argue when a voice cuts through. “You two are so fucking domestic, I want to puke.”

The two men glance at their couch where Hyungwon, their neighbor sits. He's their mediator usually when they have household arguments. Hyungwon's chin rests in the palm of his hand as he appraises the situation. “It’s like you’re already married...”

Hyunwoo chuckles, pressing a kiss to Hoseok’s cheek while the other blanches at the realization. “We’re two old, boring men!”

“We’re not. We’re just together.” Hoseok tries to argue, but Hyunwoo kisses him on the mouth and Hyungwon has had enough.

 

Later, Hyunwoo puts on an old Louis Armstrong track and pulls Hoseok into his arms. Hoseok feels his stomach drop as Hyunwoo leads him in easy steps. He presses his face into the curve of Hyunwoo’s neck, hot and flushed.

He doesn’t say anything as the song plays over and over again in their dimly lit apartment. They decided on yellow. Not piss yellow, but warm yellow. Like the way Hyunwoo feels.

Hoseok presses a kiss to Hyunwoo’s collarbone. “Do you ever think we’ll get married some day?” He holds his breath, tears prickling.

But Hyunwoo replies immediately. “Of course.”

Hoseok just stares at Hyunwoo, eyes wide and still glassy.

“Do you wanna marry me?” He asks, fingers brushing away Hoseok’s tears.

Hoseok replies immediately. “Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos/comments are always appreciated!  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/minhyukkus)


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